Drive-By Truckers are a band that I have heard about for years now but never paid much attention to. All I knew is that they had a bitchin’ band name. Last week, during my daily scan through some favorite websites, I saw that the new Truckers album The Big To-Do got an A- rating. So far on Folkways, I’ve written about albums that I have been listening to for years or new albums that I read about heavily in preparation for my article. This week, I wanted to write about something unknown to me so that I could rely solely on what I was hearing.
Now, there seems to be a disagreement about the Truckers between the Folkways writers. Chris and Evan have been fans for years, seen them live several times, and have every album. I, on the other hand, am not impressed. My opinion is based on the new album only, so I haven’t completely ruled out the band – just the album.
There is a term that my friends and I use frequently to describe albums – “general.” When I say that an album is general, it’s because nothing seems to catch my attention. Whether it’s the melody, lyrics, or instruments that are lacking, “general” is the term that I use to describe it.
A lot of The Big To-Do comes off as general to me, at least the major aspects that I look for in a good album.
Let’s start with the bad…
I’ve probably listened to this album ten times since I decided to write about it, and every time, the lyrics fail to impress me. Most of the songs are character studies, which is a great thought. However, almost every character ends up talking about how drunk they were, are, or will be at some point. “The Fourth Night of My Drinking” takes you through – you guessed it – four nights of the guy’s drinking. OK, not a terrible idea, I guess. But, there is no depth to what’s being said. The first verse starts with, “On the first night of my drinking,” the second begins with, “On the second night of my drinking,” and so on. It’s like there was no effort to do anything new.
The other thing that I can’t get past is the lack of melody. To me, every song could be renamed “Rock Song That You’ve Probably Heard Before” followed by a track number for reference. The lineup is drums, bass, guitars, vocals, and an occasional piano or organ. A lot of bands make this setup work, but on The Big To-Do, I didn’t hear the Truckers do anything that hasn’t been done.
Now, a few things that I enjoyed…
First, though I don’t think the album offers anything in the way of originality, there is no doubt that the Drive By Truckers are a tight band. They have taken a sound that they love and perfected it. Though I’m not a big fan of that particular sound, it’s obvious that the band knows what they’re doing. The Big To-Do didn’t sell me, but a live concert may sway me a bit.
Also, though there seems to be a lack of melody, the tones of the guitars match every song perfectly. I imagine that it would be ridiculously fun to play rhythm on “Get Dowtown.” Every song has a distorted electric, but they do a good job of infusing some variety in tone.
Finally, there is one song on The Big To-Do that I could see myself listening to voluntarily. “You Got Another” is a nice break from the let’s-see-how-loud-we-can-play approach used up until this point in the album. It’s not that amazing of a song, but it’s a pretty ballad that I would stop and listen to if I came across it.
The Big To-Do is an album that will stay in my library for one very specific situation. If I’m driving through the mountains on a road trip with a close friend or family member and we’re having a good conversation and we don’t want complete silence but we also don’t want something on that will catch our ears and make us want to interrupt the conversation by singing along, I’ll put on The Big To-Do.
